The last of the trip photos... and then I'll shut up ok?

...Well I will unless a brilliant photo surfaces that I have to share with you... but I think I need to finish off the trip photos for those that are interested. (I've had lots of feedback about the photos... all of it good!) I remember last year I was equally interested in the photos of those that went then... and it really motivated me to do it too. I thought... "If they can do it, why not me?"

So where were we?

Saturday was a leisure day and so Cheryl & Craig, and Greg and myself decided on a day trip out to Green Island. Unfortunately for us, although the day started out beautiful, the wind came up quite strongly and the trip out on the boat was a lot rougher than expected. Luckily Cheryl had brought along her supply of Sea-sickness tablets, and I dont know if that's what worked, but we all felt fine on the trip - unlike some unluckier passengers :-(




(Greg and me on the boat)



And here we have Before and After photos of Cheryl and Craig on the boat:



(That's Before)





And that is AFTER the big wave that came over the side of the boat! Poor Craig was directly in the firing line!





Looking across the reef from Green Island (isnt it beautiful?) I have to say that I was a little disappointed in how "touristy" it was on the island. It's such a beautiful place but it has been commercialized, which is a shame. But it was good to go there anyway. We did the glass bottomed boat thing, and even though it was very rough and windy, it was still amazing.





When we got back to the resort there was a photo call for all the girls... we all put on our bathrobes and headed down to the pool area. Here we are:




How much fun was that... we then headed back to our rooms to find the latest gift waiting for us:



And I have to say that of all the gifts that we received over the 5 days, this one was my favourite. It also went with the Safari theme of the evening - as we had our farewell dinner planned at the Lion's Den that night. Did you notice that the bag is monogrammed? I guess when you give 25 demonstrators all the same bag, it's a pretty good idea to put their initials on them!



And so off to dinner we headed. We had 2 full coaches to take us on the 45 minute drive to the park... somehow Greg and I were lucky to make it on to the "Karoke bus". Vicki Dean and Nicki Tidbold (both from QLD) had organised a CD with lot of party favourites and lots of the passengers were called up to sing their way through Michael Jackson, Cindy Lauper, Abba, and various other standards. It was a blast. We were all singing our lungs out, and the trip was over really quickly.

We arrived at our destination, and there were nibblies and drinks to start with right near the hippopotamus enclosure. (I tried to take photos, but my camera just didnt deal with the dark very well.) Then we walked up the hill towards the big cats. At the top we were lucky to have a fire-eater perform for us and he was really amazing:




(Dont try that at home!)

And then we were ushered into the most beautifully lit area where an amazing meal had been prepared for us. There were lanterns all around and it was fantastic. Our tables were literally in the middle of the lion's enclosure, with only a wire fence (including some electric wires) between us and the lions. The most amazing moment for me was when they let another pride in to feast on the chicken carcasses that we could see spread around on the grass. 10 or 12 lions thundering towards you at full pelt is not a sight that I will forget quickly! The fed a mere metre or two from where we were sitting. How amazing is that?

None of the photos that I took do this evening any justice Im afraid.

On arriving back at Angsana we were absolutely tuckered out after our big day, so off to bed we went.


The final day dawned, and we made the most of our last breakfast in Palm Cove. Here's mine (banana pancakes, with walnuts and maple cream) - did I say that I put on a few kilos - Im sure you can see why?!





And then back to the resort to finish packing and spend some last moments with some of the girls in the lounge lobby before we headed off.



This is Naomi, myself, Julia and Charlene.




Krista (from SU in the states), Emma (NZ GM), me, Karen and Aaron (Australia's GM).




Marelle and Dave.





Theresa and Jane. (Jane made me laugh sooo much - they are both lots of fun!)




Me and Miss Claire



Well that's it for the trip this year. I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of my snaps. I am so grateful to SU for providing a reward like this.. it was so worth all the hard work! I really dont know how to thank them... maybe I should send them a card? ;-)



Bye Palm Cove - Im going to miss you!